Who's Guran?
Why he's the Phantom's best friend, of course!
Many thanks to Paul McCall for this excellent caricature.
No, I'm not really the chief of the Bandar Pygmies .... just "pretending!"
My name's Dr Bryan Shedden
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Birthdate: 8th April 1970 Birthplace: Corowa, NSW, Australia Location: Albion Park, NSW, Australia (this is NOT a mailing address. Email for the correct address.) Education: B.E.(Materials Hons.1) 1992, University of Wollongong PhD (Materials Engineering) 1998, University of Wollongong That's right, I'm a doctor. I received my PhD in May 1999, after commencing in March 1993, and writing the dissertation on a part-time basis throughout 1997. Just in case you're interested, I was researching the microstructure and corrosion of magnetron sputtered sacrificial coatings for sheet steel. My thesis was quite controversial, judging by the delay between being submitted for examination (14 January 1998) and graduation (3 May 1999)! Since leaving high school in 1987, I have been employed by BlueScope Steel (formerly called BHP Steel ) in the steel capital of Australia, Port Kembla. I was fortunate to be selected for a traineeship, constituting five years paid employment while completing a Bachelors Degree in Materials Engineering on a part-time basis (normally a four year full-time course). It was tough balancing work and studies, but I eventually completed my degree in 1992, and won the University Medal for the Engineering Faculty. Then came my PhD research phase which I've already told you about. I now work at BlueScope Steel Research. My role there is to research new and improved metallic coatings for sheet steels. This mainly involves trying to find improvements on ZINCALUME® steel (also known as GALVALUME® steel in other countries). As for my personal life, on 5th September 1998, I married my girlfriend of four years, Fiona Kaul. We celebrated in style by attending Frew's 50th Anniversary Celebrations a few days later, before jetting off for our six week honeymoon in Germany and Austria (Fiona's parents emigrated from Germany to Australia in 1960). We then enjoyed the next 6 years as DINKS (dual-income-no-kids) with holidays in New Zealand, Thailand, Easter Island, Chile, Peru and various parts of Australia. On 28th November 2004, our lives were enriched by the birth of our son, Alexander Lee Shedden - his middle name is in dedication to Lee Falk, of course. Not only that, but Alex's birthdate (28/11/04) is remarkably similar to Falk's (28/04/11). Spooky! You can check up on Alex's progress via his own website. Alex joins our household of a very affectionate cat named Yuri (he's a Russian Blue), six chickens, and a large garden (Fiona's territory). My interest in The Phantom began quite late. As a kid, I was aware of Phantom comics being around, but the opportunity or thought of reading one never occurred. It wasn't until I was confined to traction in a hospital bed for two months, following a nasty car accident (before and after), that I experienced my first Phantom comic. I was 18 years old, and had just finished my first part-time year of University study. My girlfriend's mum (who also happened to be my high school chemistry teacher), loaned me a stack of old Phantom comics to help pass the time. I was hooked! I bought my first Frew comic (#921) within days of my hospital release, and haven't look back since.
Phantom Club Memberships:
|  From my visit to Bob Griffin's Skull Cave in 1996. The skull ring I'm wearing was worn by Tom Tyler during promotions for the 1943 Phantom movie serial. |
